Hamas, Fatah Coordinate May 15 Assault on Israel

Egypt to take preemptive steps as twin terror groups join in planning events for the 63rd anniversary of Israel's independence.

By Gil Ronen

First Publish: 5/3/2011, 8:58 AM / Last Update: 5/3/2011, 9:09 AM

Hamas and Fatah, the twin terror groups that represent the "Palestinian people" in Land of Israel west of the River Jordan, are cooperating on a project for intimidating and embarrassing Israel on May 15. The date is the 63rd Gregorian calendar anniversary of the declaration of the State of Israel in 1948.

Dr. Zakaria al-Agha, member of the PLO Executive Committee, said Monday that a joint Fatah-Hamas committee for marking "the 63rd Nakba Day" had been formed, and that negotiations were under way with "all of the nationalist and Islamic forces" in order to carry out a joint, central action on the day. The plans reportedly include mass marches toward Israel from all of the countries surrounding it, by Arabs and foreign sympathizers.

"Nakba," or "disaster," is what the Palestinian Authority Arabs call the establishment of the Jewish state, which occurred despite a concerted Arab attempt to kill the Jews in Israel.

Egypt is worried by the plans, according to a report on PA news agency Ma'an. It has raised the level of alert of its army and beefed up its forces in northern Sinai and the borders with Gaza and Israel, in preparation for May 15.

Nationalist Egyptians organizing through Facebook are reportedly preparing to leave El Arish May 14 and head toward Israel by land and on the sea. Egypt is preparing to close off all entrances to northern and southern Sinai in advance of this.

The post-World War One British Mandate for Palestine encompassed all of present-day Israel and Jordan. Despite the Balfour Declaration giving it to a Jewish homeland, seventy-five percent of the territory was given to the Arabs in 1923, creating a new country, Jordan. The remaining 25% - present-day Israel - has been contested bitterly by the Arabs ever since.